• Study shows graphene able to withstand a speeding bullet.
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[QUOTE][IMG]http://cdn.phys.org/newman/gfx/news/2014/jgtcfjmvkm.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://cdn.phys.org/newman/gfx/news/2014/tudgfjmf.jpg[/IMG] A team of researchers working at Rice University in the U.S. has demonstrated that [B]graphene is better able to withstand the impact of a bullet than either steel or Kevlar.[/B] In their paper published in the journal Science, the team describes how they set up a miniature firing range in their laboratory and used it to test the strength of graphene sheets. Scientists know that graphene sheets are tough, due to their dense one atom think structure. Until now, however, no one has tested the material for use as armor—to protect against being struck by a speeding bullet. In this new effort, the researchers did just that, albeit at a much smaller scale. Scientists have yet to figure out a way to mass produce sheets of graphene in large sizes, thus, for this experiment, the researchers confined their efforts to a very small scale. Their firing range consisted of using a laser to vaporize gold filaments to serve as the gunpowder. The explosion pushed micron-sized glass bullets at graphene targets—10 to 100 sheets placed together to form a mat—at speeds up to 6,700 mph (approximately a third of the speed of a real bullet). Electron microscopy was used to measure how well the graphene sheets absorbed the impact. The researchers found that the sheets were able to dissipate the energy of the bullet by stretching backwards—sort of like when someone jumps on a trampoline. Tiny cracks also formed radially, using up more of the energy. In analyzing the results, the researchers found that the[B] graphene was able to perform twice as well as Kevlar[/B], the material currently used in bullet-proof vests, and up to [B]ten times as well as steel.[/B] Put another way, the [B]graphene was able to absorb aproximately 0.92MJ/kg of projectile energy[/B], while steel can typically absorb 0.08MJ/kg when both are being tested at similar speeds. Source: [url]http://phys.org/news/2014-11-graphene-bullet.html[/url][/QUOTE] Facepunch's favourite allotrope of Carbon does it again!
Does this mean it can be a potential material for body armor?
[QUOTE=GoldenDargon;46594922]Does this mean it can be a potential material for body armor?[/QUOTE] Yes.
Graphene is fucking magic.
[QUOTE=GoldenDargon;46594922]Does this mean it can be a potential material for body armor?[/QUOTE] Yes... but the cost per area needs to drop significantly, and a means of mass production would have to be developed.
Isn't it still incredibly toxic?
[QUOTE=SGTNAPALM;46594958]Isn't it still incredibly toxic?[/QUOTE] Fuck it we can epoxy the shit if we have to, it's not like we don't already use hazardous materials in a lot of shit, just don't suck it down your food hole and you'll be fine.
So it solves the problem of the bullet piercing the skin, but what about the equally deadly massive physical impact?
[QUOTE=draugur;46595059]So it solves the problem of the bullet piercing the skin, but what about the equally deadly massive physical impact?[/QUOTE] Put some memory foam underneath it. :downs:
[QUOTE=LoLWaT?;46595064]Yeah but I thought it was basically going to be the new asbestos or something like that. I mean you shouldn't ever use excuses like that to give what basically amounts to lung cancer to people, for sake of profit no less.[/QUOTE] IIRC this was only theorized and never actually proven.
[QUOTE=draugur;46595059]So it solves the problem of the bullet piercing the skin, but what about the equally deadly massive physical impact?[/QUOTE] -snip, can cause blunt trauma if not stopped properly- It's not anywhere near equally deadly though
Fuck bodyarmor. Torn-proof condoms, THAT is important.
[QUOTE=Bradyns;46595066]Put some memory foam underneath it. :downs:[/QUOTE] Then you'll just get the feeling of being shot over and over again.
[QUOTE=GayButtMan;46595241]-snip, can cause blunt trauma-[/QUOTE] Explain rubber bullets.
[QUOTE=Jrose14;46595329]Explain rubber bullets.[/QUOTE] Yeah I had a brain fart. Blunt trauma isn't anywhere near as likely to kill you as penetration though.
[QUOTE=MrEndangered;46595328]Then you'll just get the feeling of being shot over and over again.[/QUOTE] We should patent Amnesia foam.
Not very useful, there's not that many firefights happening in the labs and research facilities that graphene will never get out of.
[QUOTE=DoktorAkcel;46595246]Fuck bodyarmor. Torn-proof condoms, THAT is important.[/QUOTE] And you'll win Bill Gate's reward for creating a better condom. If anything that would save so many millions of lives, much more than body armor ever would. tldr; Make love not war.
[QUOTE=SGTNAPALM;46594958]Isn't it still incredibly toxic?[/QUOTE] Wear a single layer of kevlar behind it. Should be ok.
[QUOTE=GayButtMan;46595241]If bullets had "massive physical impact" the recoil would be equally massive. Bullets only cause damage by penetrating.[/QUOTE] Recoil compensation exists in firearms for a reason. Beyond that you're wrong either way because it's about the fact that you're stopping a bullet within a set distance and time frame. To look at this with math. This means that with a completely "bullet proof" graphene material, you'll be looking at a stop time of at best 0.001 seconds, and a travel distance of maybe six inches. Doing the math, a 7.62x39r fmj 122gr round, would have an impact force of 1297005.97205118 lbf, (assuming 6 inches of distance to stop and .001 seconds of deceleration) you take this figure and divide it by the bullet's impact area. We'll be nice and say that it would be a 2 inch by 2 inch square, even though the bullet of a 7.62x39r would impact a much smaller area than that. Taking our lbf from earlier we divide it by the area of impact, 2 in^2, and we get the PSI impact on the body. 648502.98602559 PSI. Round this to 648503 PSI. This is assuming the person is wearing only the bullet proof layer and clothing. This is 44128 Atmospheres of pressure. The same as being 441.27 Km under the ocean. To put this bluntly, (hehe) there is a reason that modern body armour uses various methods to spread the impact across a very wide surface area to keep you from having your lungs literally explode in your body upon impact. [editline]28th November 2014[/editline] [QUOTE=GayButtMan;46595357]Yeah I had a brain fart. Blunt trauma isn't anywhere near as likely to kill you as penetration though.[/QUOTE] Correct, but only because the bullet is allowed to continue traveling through your body because we are squishy flesh creatures.
Not just bullets, but for Spacecraft too. IIRC, Graphene is very temperature stable along with its other superior properties, and compared to current Kevlar which is used in micrometeroid protection. Graphene is superior in about every manner.
[QUOTE=draugur;46595059]So it solves the problem of the bullet piercing the skin, but what about the equally deadly massive physical impact?[/QUOTE] The impact from a common rifle cartridge wont kill you if the energy is spread over the entire front of your torso. You probably know this but high level body armors are rigid and try to spread out the energy of an impact as much as possible. I imagine that since graphene has very good tensile strength, you could put a layer of it bonded (somehow) to the inside of a convex steel plate, so that when there is pressure acting inward the graphene is put under tension, where its strength is greatest.
Isn't the most important thing in body armor dispersing the impact force over the surface of the armor? I wonder how graphene does this.
[QUOTE=draugur;46595579]We'll be nice and say that it would be a 2 inch by 2 inch square, .[/QUOTE] that's not being nice at all. armor pieces are much larger than 2in^2 and the whole point is that because this is much stiffer and can absorb much more energy than steel or kevlar it is a potential application of body armor
[QUOTE=draugur;46595059]So it solves the problem of the bullet piercing the skin, but what about the equally deadly massive physical impact?[/QUOTE] There's always ceramic plates.
[QUOTE=Recurracy;46595730]Isn't the most important thing in body armor dispersing the impact force over the surface of the armor? I wonder how graphene does this.[/QUOTE] Yes, the two deadliest factors when it comes to ballistics are penetration and blunt trauma. That's why armor piercing and hollow point rounds are a thing respectively. The symmetric nature of graphene in both shape and bonding is what lends to its immense strength, this is known as Aromacity in chemistry. The bonding exploits sp^2 bonding (where by the four valence electrons of carbon lack a counter-spin electron, thus with three of the four electrons having counter-spin electrons, the fourth electron is free to move thus owing to its conductivity). [B]Needless to say, in VSEPR theory electrons try to look for the lowest energy state when bonding. Count this as a 'resting position' for the bond's 'spring-like' behaviour. Whenever you stretch that bond (with say a ballistic impact), you distribute out the energy around as the bonds can only stretch so far individually. The trampoline analogy in the article is rather spot on.[/B]
[QUOTE=GayButtMan;46595357]Yeah I had a brain fart. Blunt trauma isn't anywhere near as likely to kill you as penetration though.[/QUOTE] It really depends on the bullet. A 9mm's blunt force isn't going to kill you, it's why light body armor doesn't have ceramic plates or what not. However, a 7.62 is going to cause some damage with it's blunt force, which is why heavier body armor has some way to disperse that force.
[QUOTE=draugur;46595059]So it solves the problem of the bullet piercing the skin, but what about the equally deadly massive physical impact?[/QUOTE] Uh... it's not like the military is going to slap this over somebody's skin and go "boom, body armor" It will most likely be incorporated into various types of ceramic plating. Like epoxy layers together into a hardened plate, and use that to stop bullets. Or, if it is incredibly heat resistant it could probably be sintered directly into silicon carbide or aluminum oxide ceramic plates. Or could just be like kevlar where they stack a few hundred layers together and put it over top of thick padding. Lots of applications in this regard
Pretty neat. Now produce an actual product using this stuff already.
I'm going to be very optimistic but since we know graphene wont tear, and the very structure of it is very consistent, we should be able to accurately predict how it behaves. Perhaps if it's used in some sort of a composite material like someone mentioned above you could design something based on it's properties. I don't know how many sheets you would need to stop a real bullet so it's hard to imagine what it would behave like, I mean can you bend it but not tear it? Maybe it would be possible to mold it and or fold it to create shapes that could spread the force of a bullet. Could it be possible to create a structure from it that is designed to be able to contract evenly from force applied anywhere so if you get shot it absorbs the energy by restricting a little around your body instead. Or could it be used even more cleverly where the energy could be converted into heat, or knowing that graphene is basically magic anyway, even electricity? As you can see, Graphene fascinates me.
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